Left Out: How Political Ideology Affects Support for Migrants in Colombia

Abstract

Do perceived political views of migrants affect their treatment? For existing studies of migrant reception largely conducted in the Global North, the overlap between ethnicity and partisanship has made it difficult to disentangle political fears from other status and identity concerns. We leverage a case in which migrants come from a similar ethno-linguistic background to explore the role of political fears. Drawing on an original face-to-face survey with over 1,000 Colombians and 1,600 Venezuelans in Colombia, we find that Colombians view Venezuelan migrants as left-wing even though actual Venezuelan migrants are more right-wing than their Colombian hosts. These political misperceptions are consequential: we find that Colombians strongly oppose the settlement of left-wing migrants in their communities. Our research implies that societies can construct out-groups along political lines when the ethnic and cultural bases for migrant exclusion are weaker.

When Pandemic Threat Does Not Stoke Xenophobia: Evidence from a Panel Survey around COVID-19

“…Back then, Colombians were primarily worried about the effects on Venezuelans on the job market (72% feared Venezuelans would take jobs from Colombians), and on the ability of the government to provide services (78%). They were also very concerned about how Venezuelans from a socialist regime might impact politics in a country where the majority of voters support the center right (Holland, Peters and Zhou, 2021). Unlike in high-income country contexts, our Colombian respondents were relatively unconcerned about whether Venezuelans were highor low-skill and unconcerned about the racial and cultural effects of these migrants.…”

“…they have focused on how Venezuelan migrants in Colombia might pull politics towards the left around election time (Holland, Peters and Zhou, 2021). But, they have not done so by explicitly linking COVID to xenophobic fears.…”

“…While migrant-hosting policies in Colombia have been generous (Ibánez et al, 2021), Colombian citizens on average hold negative views toward Venezuelan migrants (Rozo and Vargas, 2021;Holland, Peters and Zhou, 2021). In this paper we ask whether these views worsened during the pandemic.…”

Who’s Deserving? How People Experiencing Displacement View Migrant Identity and Asylum Policy

“…The studies that do exist find some support for the idea that citizens of the Global South are more welcoming of migrants for humanitarian reasons. For example, in Jordan and Colombia, Alrababa'h et al (2021) and Holland, Peters and Zhou (2021), respectively, find that citizens were more supportive of migrants when they are more vulnerable -women, families with children, widows, and those who are fleeing poverty and violence. Additionally, interventions emphasizing the merits of diversity or a supranational identity such as pan-Africanism (Rosenzweig and Zhou, 2021), and listening to refugees' personal narratives (Audette, Horowitz and Michelitch, 2020) in East Africa can reduce citizens' negative attitudes toward migrants.…”

“…Additionally, interventions emphasizing the merits of diversity or a supranational identity such as pan-Africanism (Rosenzweig and Zhou, 2021), and listening to refugees' personal narratives (Audette, Horowitz and Michelitch, 2020) in East Africa can reduce citizens' negative attitudes toward migrants. Yet, in these cases, there is evidence that respondents are instrumental: Jordanians preferred Syrian refugees who shared a similar sect of Islam (Alrababa'h et al, 2021), Colombians preferred Venezuelan migrants who shared a political ideology (Holland, Peters and Zhou, 2021), Tanzanians preferred Burundian refugees who shared their religion and could speak Tanzanian Kiswahili (Zhou, 2018).…”